'Wildwood' comes to life in Laika's most ambitious stop-motion film

What began as a visit to a forest on the outskirts of Portland blossomed into the magical world of the stop-motion film "Wildwood," Laika Studios' most ambitious project to date.

"The beginning was this germ of an idea," said Colin Meloy, author of the 2011 novel of the same name on which the film is based.

Meloy imagined Forest Park, a 5,200-acre wooded grassland in Portland, Oregon, as a "magical kingdom" surrounded by an impervious barrier.

The idea led Meloy and his wife, Carson Ellis, who illustrated the novel, to map out the park's boundaries and populate it with mystical creatures and characters, creating the foundation of their fictional world.

Wildwood, which brings the story from page to picture and arrives in theaters on Friday, follows teenager Prue McKeel, voiced by Peyton Elizabeth Lee, as she ventures into the forest outside Portland after magical crows kidnap her younger brother.

The voice cast also includes Jacob Tremblay as Prue's friend Curtis, Jake Johnson as Mr. McKeel, Prue's father, and Carey Mulligan as the film's antagonist, Alexandra.

"It's really once in a generation they release a movie," Johnson said, referring to Laika.

"When they come out, it means something. It's really special and truly unique," he added.

Laika is known for its handcrafted stop-motion films, combining traditional animation techniques with 3D printing and digital effects. Its 2009 release Coraline remains the studio's highest-grossing film and a Halloween cult favorite.

For director Travis Knight, Wildwood recalled the fantasy novels he loved growing up, including the works of JRR Tolkien and CS Lewis.

He said the story also had a "weird idiosyncratic voice" that felt uniquely suited to Laika, a Portland-based studio, and to him as a Portland native.

Bringing the story to life in stop-motion proved a major undertaking.

The production used 231 puppets, 54 central hero characters, and 136 locations. Yet animating the puppets to feel lifelike posed an even greater challenge than staging the film's large-scale battle scenes.

"There's a lot of stuff that we did with the puppet department to create breathers in the puppets and muscles," said animation supervisor Brad Schiff.

"So, not only can the animator control them from the outside, but they're also controlling them from the inside, which makes them feel even more alive," he added.